


connection

by cautiouslyoptimistic



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9614528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cautiouslyoptimistic/pseuds/cautiouslyoptimistic
Summary: it starts out as a game and escalates into an all out war, and she's not even sorryor, lena doesn't like to lose, not even to her girlfriend's sister





	

Though Lillian had never been exactly _loving_ growing up, Lena had been remarkably close to her adoptive grandparents, spending much of her time off from school in their manor, spending holidays that Lex was away with the very people Lillian both spoke so fondly of and mostly ignored, often finding herself feeling lighter afterwards—feeling better.

(She sometimes wondered what had made Lillian so different, why her grandparents were so kind and tolerant and Lillian was so… _Lillian_.

She wondered, but she never went further than that, deciding she didn’t very much want to know if the variable that caused such a difference in parental style was Lena herself.)

When she was fifteen, she had spent nearly an entire summer with her grandparents, helping out her grandmother with odds and ends as her grandfather had fallen rather ill. She still could remember the afternoons she spent laughing as she and her grandmother attempted to make cookies though neither of them had experience with baking. It had always ended in chaos, the man who worked in the kitchens looking on at the flour caked hair and aprons riddled with raw eggs with poorly concealed amusement.

It was during one of those afternoons—attempting to make her grandfather’s favorite cookies—that her grandmother offhandedly joked that the way to anyone’s heart was through their stomach.

(Much like with Lex’s madness, her distant relationship with her mother, and the wasted expectations and hint of pride her father had for her, Lena chose not to dwell on how a week later, her grandfather passed away, followed by his wife two days later, making it the best and worst summer of Lena’s life.)

Her grandmother’s joking advice, however, is something that Lena hasn’t been able to shake off the last few weeks. Since meeting Kara, Lena has been quite aware that the reporter is terribly fond of food in general—her favorites becoming cause for celebration. It’s been remarkably easy to make her girlfriend happy with a few boxes of take out and a carton or two of ice cream. Except, as Lena has begun to learn, she’s not the only one aware of how easy it is to win Kara’s love through food.

And quite frankly, she doesn’t appreciate the attempts to outdo her.

“Pizza from the place you had your first date? I know what you’re doing, _Luthor,_ ” Alex hisses one night, dragging Lena to the kitchen and narrowing her eyes. “It’s a low blow, but it’s not gonna work.”

“You brought ice cream _and_ donuts, _Agent Danvers_ ,” Lena hisses right back, crossing her arms over her chest even as she keeps her eyes fixed on the back of Kara’s head, hoping her girlfriend is properly distracted by the food and Winn’s admittedly terrible jokes. “I know what _you’re_ doing.”

“I’m her sister, it’s my right to spoil her and bring her the things she loves.”

“As if, you just want to win, and I’m telling you now, Alex, I _never_ lose.”

Alex opens her mouth—likely to argue her point, probably to bring up a whole host of things Lena has lost at since she started dating Kara—but she’s interrupted by James entering the apartment, a bag full of what smells unmistakably of potstickers.

“Kara,” he calls, grinning at where Lena and Alex are huddled, eyes narrowing in unison, “I got your _favorite_.”

“Team up and destroy James?” Alex asks, not looking at Lena. It makes her snort and stick out her hand, offering Alex a curt handshake.

“Definitely. At least if you win, I’ll have lost to her sister. I don’t think I could bear losing to her ex.”

 

x

 

It’s after three months of dating Kara that Winn brought everything to a crashing halt with what he dubbed the ‘how well do you know Kara?’ game.

It had happened during one of their weekly game nights (though it’s not really weekly anymore, Alex choosing to spend her free nights with Maggie, Lena and Kara invested mostly in each other, and James too busy managing CatCo to even have time to breathe). Alex had just decimated Lena in a game of poker, Winn was sulking because he’d lost every single hand, and rather than allow Kara to pull out Scrabble, he became insistent on making up something new.

(Later, he’d admit to Lena it was because he still felt bad over the whole ‘Guardian’ thing, abandoning Kara despite not intending to, over letting her think that there was anything that could get in the way of their friendship.

He’d tell her he wasn’t sorry that he chose to help in his own way, but that he was sorry he and James made Kara feel alone, as if she couldn’t talk to them, not quite realizing how deep her fear of loss truly went.)

The game of ‘how well do you know Kara’ somehow ended in a tie. Lena was rather sure that the only reason Alex hadn’t destroyed them was because Maggie distracted her every time Kara scratched her nose, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

(Later, Maggie would admit to Lena that Kara was pulling for Lena the whole time, and the cheating had been a way to limit Alex’s totally unfair advantage.

She’d tell Lena that while she loved Alex, the competitiveness was a little bit intense, and she sort of wanted to see her girlfriend lose too—a tiny bit bitter over all the games of pool she’d lost over the course of her relationship with Alex.)

Kara was supposed to break the tie with one final question, but instead she inadvertently started an entirely new competition by suggesting no one actually knew what her favorite food was.

It led to weeks of take out and pastries and cooking frenzies until everyone forgot what they were vying for in the first place, mostly concerned with outdoing one another.

(James managed to get Kara to smile widely with sticky buns from a coffee shop Lena had never heard of, but Lena had quickly rebounded with sushi from the restaurant she and Kara had their third date at, only losing to Alex’s pastrami sandwich that ‘reminded Kara of home.’

Maggie and Mon-El took themselves out of the competition after a few days. Winn lasted two weeks. But James and Alex…they were giving Lena a run for her money.

Considering how much she was worth, that was saying something.)

And through it all, Kara just laughs.

 

x

 

“Winn says James has been talking about a new Chinese place that’s opened up in Metropolis. Apparently, Clark _swears_ by it, and he’s willing to do James a favor.”

“One call and I can have the place closed down,” Lena says, raising her eyebrows at Alex. Rather than immediately shake her head, Alex actually looks like she’s considering the suggestion made in jest, her brows furrowing in contemplation. “Alex…you know I wouldn’t actually do that, right? Not even for Kara?”

“Right. Of course not. That’s going too far.”

“Right.”

“I mean, it wouldn’t be nice maybe to close it down permanently, but if we manage to convince them to voluntarily not sell to nice smelling guys with dorky glasses—”

“Alex, please.”

“Right, right. Yeah. It’s a bad idea.” She taps a finger against her chin, smiling as a waitress refills her coffee and then moves to the next table, chatting with the elderly couple who are digging into their pancakes. They remind Lena of her grandparents. “If James is getting Clark involved, we’ll have our work cut out for us. Kara will care less about the food and more about spending extra time with her cousin.” Alex pauses, her nose wrinkling. “I hate that I’m jealous of him.”

“You’re closer to Kara than Clark is, of course,” Lena tries, not liking the way Alex’s shoulders seem to droop, all of her previous energy and cheer dissipating. “He wouldn’t have gotten any of the questions right in our game.”

“No, but she doesn’t have to worry about being human with him. She can just…be herself.” Alex shrugs a little, forcing a smile onto her face. “Doesn’t matter what you, me, and even James come up with. None of us can have the sort of connection Clark has with Kara.”

“So?” Lena asks, taking a sip of her coffee and studiously ignoring the elderly couple who are now joking with one another. “We may not be able to fly with her or punch as hard as she does, but that doesn’t make the connection we have any less important. It’s just…different. Different doesn’t mean bad, Alex.”

“So how do we use that ‘different connection’ to beat James and his trump card?”

Lena blinks, her eyes once again landing on the elderly couple. An idea begins to form in her mind.

“Well,” she says, smiling and sitting up a little straighter, “what would you say to an afternoon of baking?”

 

x

 

“I don’t know how much I like you two,” James says, draining the last of his beer and signaling Mon-El to bring another one. “Quality time with _baking_? That’s a cheap shot.”

“You used _Clark_ , James,” Alex huffs, leaning into Maggie’s side. “That’s hardly fair.”

“Yeah, but Clark didn’t even stay long. What’s the point of superspeed if you’re off in ten minutes? As far as best friends go, I think I need to rethink my choices.”

“Excuse me,” Winn says, stumbling over. He’s well into his fifth (or sixth?) drink of the night, Mon-El grinning from behind him, pointing to a bottle of liquor in his hand. “I thought _I_ was your best friend. Or do I risk my life for no reason every night?”

“I’m just saying,” James continues, ignoring Winn and turning to Lena and Alex, “I give up. Clearly you two know her better, I’m throwing in the towel.” Lena wants to gloat, she really does, but before she or Alex get the chance, Kara appears by her side, looking frustrated and more than a little windswept.

“Can you believe it took J’onn and I all afternoon to round up the last of that alien tech?” she asks, collapsing into the seat next to Lena, hurriedly placing a kiss to her cheek and then waving Mon-El over for a drink. “Vasquez was about to start _crying_. She’s been working on this for days, apparently.” Alex looks smug, probably because she managed to get out of the mission, spending most of the incident at the NCPD headquarters attempting to figure out who’d supplied the tech in the first place. Kara notices the look too because she rolls her eyes and reaches over the table to shove her sister’s shoulder. “Not fair, Alex,” she says.

“Not fair is right,” James mumbles, eyes flickering between Alex and Lena. “Totally not fair.”

Maggie bursts out laughing, followed quickly by Alex, Lena, and even James and a very drunk Winn, and no matter how many times Kara asks, none of them are in any state to explain what just transpired.

 

x

 

“Are you ready to lose, Luthor?” Alex asks her one day, after they’ve run into each other by accident. Lena huffs and rolls her eyes.

“I got her hot dogs from her favorite food truck this afternoon. Bring it on, Danvers.”

 

x

 

Alex tracks down a croissant that only a single bakery in all of National City makes—chock full of chocolate and fudge and some sort of strange raspberry drizzle—and she waves it in Lena’s face with a grin, sure that she’s won.

When Kara catches sight of her sister, she immediately launches into a story about how Lena _flew in_ pastries from Paris, dragging her to where the large selection of tarts and sweets are arranged on the table, and Alex groans, mouthing ‘ _I hate you’_ when Kara’s back is turned.

 

x

 

“Your mother’s chocolate pecan pie, Danvers? Really? You’d use childhood memories against me?”

“I haven’t forgotten the pizza from the place you had your first date. Or the potstickers you got for the gala. Admit it, Luthor, you’ve met your match.”

 

x

 

It’s Maggie who points out the problem:

“Wait. So if neither of you are willing to give up, how do you know if you’ve won?”

It’s Winn who makes Lena and Alex blush:

“How much do you want to bet they forgot what they were competing for in the first place?”

 

x

 

Lena’s already in bed, dozing a little, when she hears Kara’s boots land on their floor, her heavy footsteps getting louder as she approaches the bedroom. She smells faintly of rain and sunlight when she bends over to press a kiss to Lena’s forehead before quickly changing into more comfortable clothes, her suit being tossed carelessly into the closet. (It’d annoyed Lena when she first started staying over, frustrated by the lack of cleanliness. But now it’s a little endearing that Kara’s so keen to get into bed that she doesn’t bother to take the time to neatly put the suit away.)

“There’s food in the fridge. It’s from that Italian place Maggie told us about, the one you wanted to try,” Lena mumbles sleepily, smiling when she feels Kara slide into bed, strong arms wrapping around her middle. “Not hungry?”

“Not really. Alex found the world’s biggest steak. It was…fun to watch the look on J’onn’s face when I ate it.”

“Does that mean she’s won?” Lena asks, turning over to that she’s facing her girlfriend, taking in the slight crease between Kara’s brows. “Would it be wrong to just ask you to choose your girlfriend over your sister?”

“Lena…” Kara begins, that furrow deepening, “I—what’re you talking about?”

Lena sits up, suddenly wide awake.

“The competition,” she says, staring at Kara, “the ‘who knows Kara Danvers the best’ game? You were supposed to break the tie, but you said we had to figure out your favorite food and—”

“Wait, wait. _That’s_ what all the food is about? I was supposed to choose which one of you knows me better?”

“Well, James put up a valiant fight, but he realized Alex and I were such difficult opponents—”

“ _Lena_ ,” Kara says, interrupting Lena with a laugh before leaning forward and kissing her. It’s soft and gentle—much like everything about Kara—and when she pulls away, her eyes have taken on a watery sheen, as if she’s actively attempting not to cry. “You and Alex are _dorks_.”

“I kno—hold on, sorry?”

“Lena,” Kara repeated, shaking her head and suppressing a smile, “I wasn’t serious. No one knows my favorite food because none of you have ever had it.”

“It’s Kryptonian,” Lena guesses, falling back onto the bed, arms splayed out. It’s very undignified, and if Lillian had witnessed it, she’d likely throw a fit. But Lena looks at Kara and she remembers the way her grandmother had snorted when she laughed and she decides dignity is likely overrated anyway. “None of us _could_ know what your favorite food is, just what you like on Earth.”

“I’m sorry I wasted your time,” Kara says, grinning a little. She props her head up with one arm, staring down at Lena with a fond smile.

“What did you think we were doing?” Lena asks, biting her lip.

“I didn’t think too much about it,” Kara admits, brushing back some of Lena’s hair. “I didn’t want to jinx it and have it stop. The _world’s biggest steak_ , Lena. Can you imagine?”

“If you had to choose though,” Lena begins, unable to push away the urge to beat Alex at this, “which one of us would win? Honestly?”

Kara doesn’t answer her, she just leans forward and kisses Lena until she’s breathless, until all thoughts of competition and food is driven far from her mind.

(Later, Lena will tell Alex and the others about how touched Kara had been by the effort they’d put into proving their ‘connection’ so though they tone it down, the attempts to win Kara over—win her affection through food—don’t cease.

And later, when Winn brags about how Kara couldn’t stop laughing at the jumbo bag of cotton candy he’d brought her, Lena will knock her elbow with Alex’s, mouthing ‘ _different_ _connection’_ when Kara’s back is turned.)


End file.
